Ronald Koeman: 'Martin O'Neill didn't protect James McCarthy'

By Darren Plant, Senior Reporter | 31 March 2017

Koeman: 'O'Neill didn't protect McCarthy'

Everton boss Ronald Koeman says that Republic of Ireland manager Martin O'Neill failed to protect James McCarthy from injury on international duty.

Everton manager Ronald Koeman has criticised both Republic of Ireland boss Martin O'Neill and midfielder James McCarthy after the player suffered a recurrence of a hamstring problem.

Despite carrying the injury, McCarthy linked up with the national squad for their World Cup qualifier with Wales, only to cause further damage during the warm-up and be forced to sit out of the game.

McCarthy now appears set for a further spell on the sidelines, and Koeman used the pre-match press conference ahead of the Merseyside derby to voice his opinion on the subject.

The 54-year-old told reporters: "James had an injury when he joined up and the Everton medical team notified them. Everton advised extreme caution. The assessment by Ireland was that it was a high-risk to play against Wales. James had a strong desire to play and said he was fit.

"In my opinion, in this instance, [the manager] was not protecting the player. Clearly James was not fit to play. He had trained for only two days and broke down.

"I spoke to James and he needs to take responsibility for this."

Earlier this week, O'Neill hit out at Koeman over suggestions that McCarthy should not have been in contention to represent his country.